I have an old laptop which has stopped working and is not worth repairing. It has sensitive information on the hard drive. How can I dispose of it? Frank Dwyer
If it isn't working, you should take it apart and remove the hard drive. Assuming it's a 2.5in model, mount it in an external housing such as the Dynamode Hard Disk Caddy (£15), or similar. You can use it with another computer as a USB drive. If the hard drive isn't working, wrap it tight in a tea towel and smash it with a large hammer.
If the laptop is not too old, you could sell it on eBay: you won't get much, but some people buy dead equipment for spares. If it's beyond that, search Google for [computer recycling] plus the name of your nearest town. There are lots of locations where you can leave a PC to be crushed and the materials recovered, including UK IT Recycling Ltd.
